AsteroidPsychehas been know about for almost two century but it ’s only in the last few decades that it became clear this was a very uncanny world deserving research . This workweek , NASA is set to launch the Psyche spacecraft , which will move around 3.5 billion kilometers ( 2.2 billion ) miles to visit its namesake in the first - ever foreign mission to visit a metal - rich asteroid .
A metal and silicate asteroid , potentially up to 60 percent of Psyche is made of metal . This is so much metallic element that for a long time it was thought Psyche was the in full metallic center of an almost - satellite that was then broken apart in collisions .
The asteroid ’s origin is now believe to be more complex but there is still a lot of dubiety . To solve this mystery , we ’ll take a ballistic capsule to get up tight . The current schedule is NASA ’s Psyche space vehicle will plunge from the Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy roquette on October 12 , 2023 , with the launching window opening at 10:16 am EDT ( 2:16 pm UTC ) .
The ballistic capsule is the size of a modest vanguard and it is outfit with a variety of instruments to fully understand the composition of the asteroid , and with that its origin . It will go on a slow trek across the privileged Solar System , passing by Mars in May 2026 for a gravity assist . The foray near the Red Planet will give it a encouragement to travel all the way to the other edge of the Main Asteroid Belt , where Psyche resides .
The asteroid orbits around the Sun on a somewhat elliptical compass getting as close to the Sun as 2.5 metre the Earth - Sun distance and as far as 3.3 times . It has a potato Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe , with its farsighted axis about 280 kilometer ( 175 miles ) . It also has two large Crater , each 90 kilometers ( 55 miles ) across , indicating the major collisional history of Psyche .
The ballistic capsule will reach the asteroid in July 2029 with the goal of starting the skill mission the undermentioned calendar month . The primary mission will last for two years where Psyche , the space vehicle , will take pictures , map the Earth’s surface , and uncover the chemistry of Psyche the asteroid .
The space vehicle has also get a side mission . Attached to it is a engineering science demonstration : NASA’sDeep Space Optical Communications . This arrangement propose to essay the habit of optical maser to transmit communication with high bandwidth beyond the orbit of the Moon . This could mean more data sent back to Earth by inscrutable - space missions . The organization will be test in the first two year of travel but wo n’t be used in the principal mission .
How to watch the Psyche mission launch this week
NASA will be streaming a live launch broadcast with commentary from 9:30 am EDT ( 1:30 pm UTC ) on Thursday , October 12 with the launching window opening from 10.16 am EDT ( 2:16 pm UTC ) . It will be streamed onYouTube , Twitter , Facebook , Twitch , and NASA’swebsiteamong others .
